Chapter 33: House of Cardell

The three-story house located in northeastern Aldersberg had a green roof and white windows, the fence surrounding the house forming a wide yard, and it had a sign hanging lopsidedly on the front door. On the left side of the yard was a field where seasonal vegetables were planted, and yellow vines crept along the wall on the side of the house. Behind them were colored, gnarly doodles made by children.

A hornbeam over forty feet tall stood in the center, its dense branches covering half the yard and the house. A long table that could seat twenty people was under the tree, but it looked shabby, obviously beaten up by the elements. Roy observed the area under the hornbeam for a while. Something stirred in him when he caressed the bark of the tree. This tree's at least a hundred years old, and these weird signs… Must be the naughty kids who did this.

Roy gently opened the wooden door on the first floor, and he heard a soft woman's voice coming from within. What greeted him were children sitting in silence and a gaunt, middle-aged woman writing on a blackboard with chalk.

"Our nation, Aedirn, is located in the east of Mahakam, neighboring Temeria. Lyria and Rivia are situated in the south of Aedirn, while Kaedwen is in the north, and Blue Mountains in the east. Aedirn's king is, as of current, Demavend III, the son of Virfuril. The nation's crest is a reddish-golden arrowhead with a black background. Vengerberg is its capital." The woman paused for a moment. "Since ages past, Aedirn has been the nation with the highest occurrence of peasant movements. The revolutionists have been fighting fiercely against the nobles and royalty to change the cruel tax system…"

Roy frowned after hearing that. Something feels off.

"Someone's eavesdropping, Miss Cardell!" A scrawny young blond boy sitting in the back raised his hand, interrupting the teacher, and sixty pairs of gleaming eyes shifted their gazes to the boy at the door. Half of the kids were boys, and the others were girls. The youngests were about five or six years old, while the oldests were fourteen or fifteen. Most of them were gaunt and in rags. Someone much older than the kids was sitting in the back, and she beamed when she saw the boy.

"What brings you here, Roy?" Vivien waved at him. She was obviously wearing much more conservative attire than when she bumped into Roy. Vivien was in a plain grey dress, her wine-red hair tied back in a ponytail, and she looked so much younger.

Roy hesitated for a moment, then he sat beside her. "Tross said you were a teacher in the House of Cardell. There was something I wanted to learn, so I came."

Vivien nodded in approval. "Good decision. Knowledge is the only way to change your fate. Welcome to the House of Cardell."

"I'm Tom. Hi, Roy." The boy who ratted on him extended his hand warmly, his features scrunching up as he gave Roy a toothy grin. It was a friendly yet amusing smile. Roy shook his hand.

"Keep silent, children. Read through your history lesson. I'll be going out for a talk." The middle-aged woman led Roy to the office on the second floor. "You may call me Miss Cardell, child. What is your name? I'm guessing that you're here to learn common speech?"

Roy nodded. "I'm Roy, and I'm not a local. Can I be admitted?" he asked nervously. Roy didn't want to have come all this way just to find out it was all for naught.

"We welcome anyone under sixteen, and you look the age. The fee will be twenty crowns a month, and you'll have to work with me so I can register your personal information, alright? Most of the people here are children." Cardell had a warm gaze, but her large, hook nose, laugh lines, and thin lips made her look terrifyingly stern. "I have another question. Do you have enough money?" Cardell was doubtful, since most students had their parents come with them.

"I work in the marketplace, so I have enough for the fees. Oh, yes, Miss Cardell, and that's also why I can only make it at noon." Twenty crowns was far cheaper than what Roy had in mind. He already had enough to pay even without his jobs.

"Do as you will. As long as you can keep up." Cardell kept his registration form in the cabinet under the desk once she was done with it.

Roy glanced at the thick stacks of forms neatly sorted in the cabinet. Once he paid the fee, he went back to the shabby classroom with Cardell, and his seat was between Vivien and Tom. The moment he went in, Roy noticed a few unfriendly glares coming his way. So not everyone welcomes me here.

A few burly boys seated at the upper right corner threw hostile looks at him when they noticed him coming in. The oldest boys had looks of jealousy and warning in their eyes, telling Roy to stay away from their beloved toys. Roy didn't care about them, since he saw no need to fight with a bunch of brats. Twenty crowns a month, and locals pay a lower fee. Are they running a charity business here? The money's barely enough for the food in this area. Roy made an estimate and noticed that there were sixty-five students in the class — excluding him and two teachers, who were Vivien and Cardell.

Food alone would eat up a lot of the crowns, making the education almost free, and they even provided accommodation for special kids.

"What are you thinking about, Roy?" Vivien looked at him, concerned. "Can't get used to the place?"

"I think it's fine," he whispered. "Is everyone from the lower city?"

"Yes. From ordinary families." She smiled. "Get along with them, and don't bully them just because you're older. Ask me if you need anything."

Roy nodded and started learning. The school was a shabby one. It had no tables or chairs. The students sat on the mat in rows. There were no quills or ink, only soot from coal that was used up. The papers were substandard, made out of grass. It was either that, or writing on the ground, erasing it, and writing it again. The conditions weren't great, but the lessons didn't come easy, so the students were extremely focused.

After teaching the new students for a short while, Cardell started teaching the basics of the common speech from the north. It was a new language that was born after the Conjunction of the Spheres. The alphabet and grammar were similar to the Slavic languages from his past life.

Roy felt bizarre — as if he'd gone back to his old world. For a moment, he thought he was a young high schooler sitting in his classroom as classes went on again. The original Roy had lived in this world for years, giving him a degree of understanding of the local language. To an extent, it increased his learning efficiency.

Roy's mature thinking and brain power as well as his insight were a big help too. His Spirit that exceeded a normal human's allowed him to stay focused for a longer time. More importantly, he was someone who went through a grueling education system in his old life. He wouldn't lose to anyone in the witcher world when it came to rote learning.

Thanks to those reasons, there was a chain reaction, and it made it easier for Roy to learn the new language.

***

When it was almost noon, the long tables under the hornbeam were filled with people from the House of Cardell. The autumn breeze blew across the steaming food, and the aroma wafted across the yard, making the quiet children gulp. None of them made a move though. They were looking at the middle-aged woman, waiting for her command.

Cardell stood up straight, as if she were a commander facing her soldiers before war. She nodded with approval at the children and said, "Prophet Lebioda lit up three flames for the people. One is justice, the other is equality, and the last is the flames of dreams. Every child here has a dream." She lectured about dreams and what they meant. "Our fathers and their fathers have always been farmers. Treasure the food they earned with their sweat and blood."

Cardell waved forward, and everyone around the table moved toward the food. Everyone had hard bread, vegetable soup, pickles, and fish jerky. It wasn't great, but beggars couldn't be choosers. The students stuffed their mouths full of food, as if it would be taken away if they were just a bit slower.

Roy was eating slowly at first, but he was surprised by how intensely the kids fought over the food. Influenced by their gusto, he inexplicably ate faster. It didn't even take the kids fifteen minutes to finish all the food. Not one mouthful of soup was left. Even the leaves that fell into the plates were gobbled up by one little rascal.

Roy was only half full though, and he could feel that most of the students felt the same. Tom puckered his lips. He was too scrawny to win against the other kids, even though he sat in the center. Roy had to say that was the best lunch he'd had since his rebirth. It was even better than the feast Seville treated him to. The best meal is the one fought over, huh?

Suddenly, Roy thought there was another layer of meaning to the speech Cardell had given them before lunch. It was one of fairness and equality, but she'd let the kids fight over food after that. Is she already teaching them the harsh reality of life when they're still so young?

***

The students had a short break after lunch, and they split into dozens of small groups, playing chase or chatting in the yard. Everyone was smiling, and once again, Roy thought he was back in PE class like in his old life. He couldn't believe a peaceful place like the House of Cardell existed in a magical world where revolution was in full swing. Roy was impressed.

Even so, disturbance stirred in the land of peace. As long as someone was popular in a group, there would be unpopular ones. One of them just happened to be Tom, the boy who'd said hi to him. He stood in the corner alone, fiddling with his fingers, staring at the other kids with longing.

"Aren't you going to play with them, Roy?" A fragrant scent assailed him, and Vivien crept up on him, her gaze filled with encouragement.

A chill ran up Roy's spine, and he shook his head. "We have nothing in common. What about Tom though? He looks like a sorry soul."

"Tom… Tom is an orphan. He's not like the other kids who have loving parents. The school's his home." She sighed. "And he's really frail, so the bigger kids keep ganging up on him, isolating him," she said solemnly. "Principal Cardell and I tried to tell them off, but it didn't work. We have too many things to take care of, so we can't keep our eyes on him. And we didn't show him enough care."

"So he's an abandoned child." Roy nodded. Bullying was a serious matter in modern society, let alone a shabby school like the House of Cardell.

A half-hour nap time followed the break, and then it was time for Vivien's lessons. They included simple maths, tips to make life easier, and the meaning of words in common speech. When a boring lesson was taught by a gentle, gorgeous lady, it sounded interesting. At least the boys with Roy didn't blink as they listened.

***

Once the clock struck five, parents gradually came to the House of Cardell to take their children home to the lower city. "Is it safe? Won't the human traffickers from the Sparrow Triad prey on the kids?" Roy went up to Vivien as he looked in the direction they left.

"They kidnapped a girl five years ago. From the school. Someone saw her body in the ditch the next day. Her parents, overwhelmed by despair, spent all their savings to buy coal oil and set one of their bases on fire at night. They went into the burning base and died together with the Triad members who were sleeping. I can still remember the moment their charred carcasses were taken out of the ruins." Vivien was still shocked even though it had been a few years since then. "From then on, the school and everyone in the lower city pressured the Triad. Even Baron Tavik was notified about the matter. The Sparrow Triad made some concessions and never did anything of the sort again."

Roy was reminded of what Seville had told him. "A good man's fury can demolish the entirety of the Mahakam mountains." Alright. That's another story I can tell Toya tonight.

"Come, Roy." Vivien held his arm, dragging him toward the classroom. "This is your first day, so there must be a lot you don't understand. I'll teach it again."

Roy was surprised she would do so. He had the feeling Vivien was overly nice to him since they'd first met, but he didn't think much about it. He was more than happy to master common speech sooner rather than later.

"Oh, why'd you come back, Roy?" Tom, who was staring at the other children, hopped to him and held his other hand. His golden hair swayed with the wind, and he grinned toothily, looking like a puppy who was happy about its master's return. "You don't have a home either? Why don't I play with you?"

Vivien pulled his ear, and he wailed in pain. "Roy's going to revise today's lesson, Tom. Since you're here too, you're revising with him."

Tom froze, and he tried to struggle free, but to no avail. Vivien dragged him into the classroom by his ear. "You kept complaining about being alone, didn't you? Then you're going to learn with Roy every day after school."

The boy's wails were sent up into the heavens along with the autumn breeze. The branches of the hornbeam creaked along with the wind, its yellowing leaves falling into the silence of the dusk.